He was typically reluctant and hesitant at first, and then later complained and cried and claimed he was scared. He even fell on purpose a few times, just to make the point. In the end, we left the ice with him crying and crying, saying he was scared.
BUT -- the one thing he was really good at was the actual skating!! To my surprise, despite his clumsiness, hesitance and younger age as compared to Gabriel, he actually was a lot better at balancing and propelling himself than Gabriel was when we did this class a year ago. Julian refused to use the little plastic chairs they give the kids to push around to get a feel for the ice, and instead held my hand while he picked up his feet and pretty much skated. He was even pulling me along at one point, without realizing it.
Gabriel, by comparison, held onto the chair for dear life, and it was very hard to break him of it later. Gabriel was a lot tougher about the whole thing, never crying, never saying he was scared, but refused to give up the chair. Julian was much more willing to follow instructions, and when he did, he actually skated far better than Gabriel did, and that's being a year younger than his usually more athletic older brother was.
I told Julian many, many times how great he did and how proud I was of him and how fun it was, so I'm hoping that's his main memory of it for next week.
Funny kid comment of the day: I told Julian that we were going skating, "just you and me." He pondered this quietly for a moment, then said, "Mommy, your name is 'me' and my name is 'you'!"
I had to wake Katrina from a sound morning nap to take her to Tonya's for the skating, but she did fine there. Later in the afternoon, I managed the ideal nap scenario: I went from getting Julian down for a nap, straight from his room across the hall into Katrina's room, and put her down for a nap. They started their naps at exactly the same time, which allowed me to take one too. When I got up, Gabriel had fallen asleep on the floor too. All four of us at once. Wow.
Even more wow: I got Katrina to take a bottle today! Of formula! From me!! Major progress!!! It actually felt strange feeding her from a bottle. I almost felt...well, jealous and left out. Ironic, because I've really been working at the bottle to gain some freedom, but at the same time, I have a visceral emotional response of "wah, my baby doesn't need me."
Katrina went to bed late last night, around 9:30pm, but as a result, slept through until 6:15am. A good thing! If being woken up in a single-digit hour can ever be considered a good thing....
Once again, a challenging evening: baby needs bath, nursing and bedtime smack dab when I need to be preparing dinner. I can pre-prepare dinner to some extent, but there's no getting around the major work happening on eithe side of 6pm or so. But once again, who am I to complain about a baby who wants to go to bed?
Especially one so adorable in this Gymboree toile-ish outfit?
Gabriel: tough, no whining, but stubborn and unwilling to try skating without the chair. Julian: wimpy but more talented. Will Katrina once again fall smack dab inbetween? I'll let you know in another 3 years!
3/7/07
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